Falling Skies Descends upon Asia on AXN Beyond

Executive produced by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List) and co-created with Oscar nominated screenwriter Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan), Falling Skies, US cable TV’s top new series of 2011 is set to unleash an extraterrestrial invasion of apocalyptic proportions upon Asia’s audiences.

The riveting new blockbuster science fiction TV series premieres 3 October and airs on Mondays at 8.20pm in 14 markets across the region, first and exclusively on pay-TV channel AXN Beyond.

With Steven Spielberg himself involved in shaping the script, cast, edits, post production to even the aliens and spaceships, AXN Beyond viewers can expect a world class production in Falling Skies. The series hails from the TV production and distribution division of Hollywood studio DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks Television, which has been responsible for global hit shows such as The Pacific and Band of Brothers.

Falling Skies is an epic saga in the aftermath of an all-out invasion of Earth by aliens. Set in the chaotic world left completely devastated by the extraterrestrial attack, Falling Skies picks up six months into the alien occupation where the few survivors have come together outside what is left of key cities in an attempt to fight back.

Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers scavenge for supplies, protect the people in their care, and embark on a guerrilla campaign against the enigmatic and deadly alien force. Humans live in the hope of taking back their home one day and rebuilding their lives.

Falling Skies stars Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominee Noah Wyle (E.R.) as Tom Mason, a Boston history professor whose wife was killed in the invasion and the second of his three sons was captured by aliens. Determined to rescue his son and safeguard his two other boys, Tom must put his extensive knowledge of military history and strategies to the test as the second-in-command of ‘2nd Mass.’, a resistance force named after their base in Boston, Massachusetts. However, Tom’s lack of battlefield experience leaves him at odds with his commander, the no-nonsense, formerly retired military captain Weaver (Will Patton, Armageddon).Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation) co-stars as Anne Glass, a paediatrician helping children among the survivors cope with the traumatic upheaval. Anne lost her only son and husband during the invasion. Yet to face up to her loss, Anne is pouring herself into work for 2nd Mass. The tragedy she shares with Tom pulls them close in a unique relationship.

Mighty, mysterious and merciless, the extraterrestrial conquerors are highly intelligent and are able to fight using military-like tactics. Combining live-action and visual effects, aliens named ‘Skitters’ are six-legged spider-like monsters with incredible strength and agility. Bipedal, robotic ‘Mechs’ walk upright and fire deadly projectiles from their arms. The ‘Skitters’ and ‘Mechs’ serve even more powerful extraterrestrials that will be unveiled in the series. Captive children such as Tom’s son, Ben (Connor Jessup, The Saddle Club), are controlled through bio-mechanical harnesses fused to their spines which change them to their very core…

Falling Skies premiered in the US to 8 million ‘live’ and time-shifted (digital video recorders) viewers, which made it cable TV’s top new series launch of 2011 to date. In addition to viewership, the series earned wide acclaim from critics. American daily ‘The Los Angeles Times’ commended, “Serious without being grim, uplifting without being saccharine, ‘Falling Skies’ dares to image what feature films will not – a world in which Will Smith (Independence Day) or Aaron Eckhart (Battle: Los Angeles) did not bring down the mother ship in time.” Media trade publication ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ unequivocally deemed Falling Skies as being “really good”.

Beyond the US, Falling Skies is being rolled out internationally in a total of 75 markets across Europe, South America and Asia. The series’ popularity has already ensured a second season is confirmed and will premiere in the US in the summer of 2012.

A tale of endurance, commitment and courage in which ordinary people are called upon to become heroes, Falling Skies – with the off- and on-screen magic of Spielberg, Rodat, Wyle and more – will unfold as a blockbuster saga of human’s last stand this October, only on AXN Beyond!